


Changes

by Fyerluna



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil is Inhuman, Freaked Out Carlos, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Carlos, Re-Education
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 18:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1357519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyerluna/pseuds/Fyerluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos goes through a lot of changes when he comes to Night Vale. Not all of them are natural.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes

When he comes to town he hears the radio host describe a man. He chuckles, then he catches a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. He calls City Hall, the only official body he has a number for. They take his call to mean he wants a town meeting.  


He came here alone, but when he goes to the building he decided to use as his home and laboratory next to the pizza place he finds it already stocked with glowing, buzzing, and humming machinery. He had not called ahead. The equipment he’d brought with him is missing from his truck, already set up in the lab.  


He goes out on his first expedition and finds a team of scientists awaiting his direction. He excuses himself politely to the cab of his truck. He gets in, he locks the door. It’s now a sporty hybrid coupe. The radio says the team is his. He can’t remember their faces and they never give their names.  


He wakes up late one morning. He can’t remember anything about where he came from. He looks at the photograph on his desk but it hurts his head to focus on it. He takes a Tylenol and a nap. He checks the photo when he wakes up. It’s as unrecognizable as the place holders in the department store frames. He sees no one he can remember. Later that day a barber is chased out of town.  


He throws himself into work and tries not to think about the team of scientists buzzing around the lab. He doesn’t know their fields, but they seem to be interchangeable and he’s almost thankful for that since he can’t remember their faces or names to distinguish one from another anyway. He can’t remember his field either, though he knows he is a scientist.  


He is determined to prove violence is not always the answer and so he goes down to show the town that the tiny city is tiny and harmless. He dies. He wakes up on the linoleum floor. Teddy Williams is conveniently a doctor. Someone had to die here and the Apache tracker is conveniently dead. The balance is preserved. It should have been him. He wonders why it wasn’t him. The radio host is thrilled.  


On the trunk of his car he comes to terms with the fact that his life is no longer the one he started with. He misses being able to lay out in the flatbed of a truck. He doesn’t remember why. He wonders if maybe he had an uncle or a brother with a truck, but he doesn't remember having an uncle or a brother. He spends the evening considering that.  


Whatever Night Vale’s most favoured resident had done and continues to do to him, it seems that the host at least genuinely cares about him. He stares at the numbers on the phone screen. How can he fight against changes he doesn't know have happened? He hits the call button. There is no fighting it. He doesn't want to fight it anyway. He takes a deep breath. He wonders if he should be fighting it. He speaks. It's too late now. “I’m calling for personal reasons.”


End file.
